LA City Council votes to ban marijuana shops

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles City Council has voted to ban hundreds of medical marijuana dispensaries that have cropped up across the city.

The council on Tuesday voted to rid the nation's second-largest city of pot clinics that some residents say have been a blight on neighborhoods. City officials estimate there could be more than 900 collectives open currently.

Many cities have struggled with medical marijuana ordinances but none has had a bigger problem than Los Angeles, where pot shops have proliferated. At one point, the city ordered closure of the shops - a process that failed amid lawsuits and conflicting rulings by appellate courts.